


I'll Catch You

by write_your_way_out



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 10:27:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10739820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/write_your_way_out/pseuds/write_your_way_out
Summary: Isabella never thought she would literally fall for a guy, but sometimes the ice is slippier than expected. JJ never thought a girl would literally sweep him off his feet, but sometimes you just can't keep your balance.





	I'll Catch You

**Author's Note:**

> Another one of my deep Tumblr stories that I dug up from my blog!

“Attention skaters! The rink will close in fifteen minutes for private lessons.” A loudspeaker blasted the announcement across the ice rink. Isabella clung tighter to the railing, thanking her lucky stars. For a Canadian, she was horrendous at ice skating. 

“JJ! Go warm up.” Someone on the sideline shouted. 

“Sure, coach!” A boy her age, sixteen, called back. Dark hair fell over his face as he finished lacing up his skates. A red and white Team Canada jacket bunched around his wrists. 

“Come on Izzy! Hurry up!” 

“Huh?” She turned back to her friends. Claire and Diana couldn’t have looked more unalike. Claire was parchment paper pale, with freckles and blue eyes. Her hair spun in gold waves around her. Diana’s skin was dark and smooth, with black hair that curled in tiny corkscrews all across her head. The one thing they had in common? Both were fantastic skaters compared to Isabella. At least they could keep their balance without a wall holding them up. 

A blur whizzed by them. “What was that?” Diana turned around. The boy Isabella had watched earlier was on the ice now. He moved twice as fast as any other skater. His agility and balance made skating seem easy and graceful. While others pitched forward on their blades, he rode them confidently as he wove between kids. 

She had thought Claire and Diana were good, but now they looked like unsteady kids. 

Claire poked her side. “You’re staring!” She hissed. 

“What?” Isabella’s cheeks heated up. “I am not!”

“And now you’re blushing,” Diana said. 

Isabella started to snap a retort when Claire cut her off. “We have ten more minutes before they kick us out.” 

“So?”

“We’ve been here for three hours and you haven’t let go of that wall once.”

“Yeah,” Diana jumped on. “You have to get onto the open ice! It’s the rules.”

She broke out in a cold sweat. Even now, with the wall holding her up, her skates wouldn’t behave. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

“We’ll help you. It’ll be fine,” Claire promised. Before Isabella could protest again, they grabbed her hands and drug her away. 

“You’d better not let go!” She warned them. Her ankles shook as they glided across the ice. 

“Too late!” Claire shouted. Diana broke away as she swung Isabella into the center of the rink. 

Without anything to balance on, her ankles twisted in. 

“Woah!” Someone shouted. Her shoulder knocked against something soft. The fall was inevitable. Her back hit the ice, covering her jacket in snow. 

“Ouch,” Isabella whipped around. On the ice next to her, shaking out red palms was the Team Canada boy - Was his name JJ? Had she taken him out too? Her cheeks flushed as red as his jacket.

“I’m so sorry!” She started. 

The skater laughed. “It’s no big deal. That’s the first time I’ve fallen in weeks. At least now I know I remember how to land.” Isabella blinked. Did he really skate that often? She supposed he must, if he liked it enough to buy Team Canada merch. The boy continued. “Are you okay though? You hit your head pretty hard.”

“Really?” Isabella touched her head. “I didn’t notice. I’m sure it’s fine.”

JJ shrugged. “If you’re sure.” He stood in one fluid motion. Why didn’t his skates betray him at every turn? 

Isabella sighed and raised a knee. Diana had tried to teach her how to get up from a fall. Despite it being the skill she had practiced most, she was still terrible at it. Just push off one knee, she thought. It’s not that hard.

Her skate slid out from beneath her. She could feel the stare of the other skater on her back. After several unsuccessful attempts, he cleared his throat. “Do you need a hand?”

Isabella accepted his offer and he pulled her back to her feet. Claire and Diana looped around to join them. Claire gave a low whistle and clapped. 

“Good job, Iz. You landed on a hottie.” 

“Claire!” She was saved from having to explain her friend's big mouth by the speakers turning on. 

“Attention skaters! The free skate period has ended. Please make your way to the exits.”

Diana offered Isabella her hand. Halfway to the exit, she turned around. 

“Aren’t you coming?” JJ was still on the ice, right where they had left him. He shook his head. Diana pulled her away before she could question him.

 

“Did you do that on purpose?” Isabella asked. 

“Do what?” Claire gave her an innocent smile. 

“Make me fall.” She crossed her arms. “That was humiliating.”

“We did you a favor.” Diana poked her playfully, swinging her skates over her shoulder. 

“Yeah. You and that cutie totally hit it off!” 

“What?” Isabella could hardly believe her friends. “You know, we could have gotten seriously hurt.” 

“Whatever,” Claire said. “Just remember to thank me at your wedding.”

“I hate you.” Isabella stuck her tongue out at her friends. They were embarrassing, yet charming, and she loved them for it, but sometimes they went too far.

“Hey, can you send me the pictures from today?” Diana changed the subject. Before the rink had been too busy, Claire and Diana posed for photos on the ice. As a budding photographer, Isabella’s phone was full of action shots of them. 

“Yeah, let me get my-” Her hand reached into an empty pocket. “Shoot!” 

“What is it?” 

“I think I left my phone in the rink somewhere!” Sitting on a bench waiting for the bus, there was still time to go get it. “I’ll be right back.” 

The rec center was abandoned and there was no one to stop her from entering the rink. As the door swung open, music entered her ears. She furrowed her brow in confusion. Who was playing-

She froze mid-thought. On the ice, JJ moved in time to the music. His skates glided across the ice like magic, footwork that Isabella could never imagine. He moved forward and back, using the entire rink. It wasn’t just his skates though. His body, from legs to head, swung in majestic patterns. 

He crouched down and everything compressed into a spiral. He spun in a blur, going down, then up again. She had never seen anybody skate like this. He gained speed after exiting the spin. Was the music getting more intense, or was that just her imagination? 

The piano reached the end of the scale and JJ smiled. He knee bent and pushed off. His skates left the ice. He jumped. He had actually jumped. Isabella gasped. 

“What?” Pulled out of his trance, he stopped, noticing her for the first time. “Oh! Hey!” 

“JJ, you’re in the middle of practice! Your senior debut is happening in less than a month, you don’t have time to- Oh.” His coach, a middle-aged woman with short hair, stopped short. 

JJ ignored her, skating off of the rink to meet Isabella. He was at least a head taller than her. She hadn’t noticed until now. “Come to knock me over again?” He asked. 

“I said I was sorry!” She blushed. JJ laughed. “I think I left my phone here, but I don’t see it.” The floor and benches surrounding the rink were completely cleared. 

“I’ll help you look,” he offered. JJ turned back to his coach. “Take five mom! I’ll be back in a second.”

“Really, you don’t have to-”

“It’s fine! I’ve trained here the past three years of my life. If anyone knows all the places to lose things, it’s me!” He winked at her. Was he being playful or was he trying to flirt?

Isabella distracted herself from that question as he led her down a row of bleachers. She swooped down to check underneath and asked, “Trained? For what?”

JJ looked at her with a straight face. “Basketball, obviously.” 

She snorted. “Obviously.”

“I’m actually a professional figure skater.”

“What! No way!” Isabella looked at him with wide eyes. So the Team Canada jacket he had was real?

“Yeah. I’m ranked the number one junior skater in the male division right now. Though there is this one kid that’s trying to take it away from me.”

“Good luck to him.”

“He’ll be out of my hair soon enough. I’m transitioning into the senior division as soon as the season starts.” 

Time passed with small talk and questions. Before Isabella knew it, they had searched the entire rink top to bottom without a sign of her phone. “Geez, I’m sorry.” JJ said.”I was sure we could find it.”

“It’s fine. It’ll show up eventually, I’m sure. I should have kept a closer eye on it.” She brushed off her clothes. “I guess I better go find my friends.”

“Hey, wait,” JJ said suddenly. She looked at him. He stared at the ground, shifting awkwardly from side to side. “Could I maybe have your number?” 

Her heart jumped. Everything in her shouted, Yes! She had to take a deep breath to contain her enthusiasm.

“It’s not a big deal. If not, I get it-” JJ rambled on. He’d mistaken her silence for hesitation. 

“No! It’s fine, really!” Isabella corrected him. “it’s just-” a sad realization dawned on her. “I would give it to you,” Isabella said, “But seeing as how my phone is gone, it’d be kind of useless.”

“Oh, yeah.” JJ laughed, “I can’t believe I forgot.”

 

“Hey! Lovebirds!” At the entrance of the rink, Claire shouted at them. Diana grinned smugly.

“Hey Isabella,” she said. “Catch!”

Isabella's phone flipped through the air and landed perfectly in her hands. “What?” 

“It was never lost!” Diana shouted. “I stole it so you'd have to go back in. You’re welcome.” 

The timing was too perfect for Isabella to be mad. “Here.” She handed it to JJ. A few clicks, and she had successfully exchanged numbers with the world’s top junior skater. What a day it was.

“By the way,” JJ called over his shoulder as he returned to the ice. “If you ever want to skate again, I promise I’ll catch you every time you fall.”


End file.
